Report of Unidentified Flying Object — Spangdahlem Air Base, 3 February 1961

On 3 February 1961, between 1703 and 1704 Zulu, Airman Third Class Harris A. Cusick, a weather observer with Detachment 11 of the 31st Weather Squadron, observed an unidentified object from a weather observation tower at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. The object was described as round, almost pure white, and very bright, appearing similar to a large star but significantly closer. It was estimated to be the size of a baseball held at arm's length. The object was observed for approximately 8 to 12 seconds as it traveled on a direct course from the Southwest to the Northeast, passing through an opaque cloud before disappearing into a solid cloud bank. No tail, trail, exhaust, or sound was associated with the object. At the time of the sighting, the weather conditions included scattered clouds at 2,500 feet and broken clouds at 6,000 feet, with calm winds and 6 nautical miles of visibility. The observer was positioned on the West side of the approach end of Runway 23. Following the report, the 7370th Flight Service Squadron forwarded the details to the Director of Air Intelligence at Spangdahlem. The official conclusion recorded on the Project 10073 record card suggests that the object was likely a meteor, noting that its speed and rotation ruled out the possibility of it being a satellite. The Frankfurt Flight Service Center, located 76 nautical miles away, reported having insufficient information to provide a definitive analysis of the event. No physical evidence was recovered, and no radar contact was reported in conjunction with the visual sighting.